Handplates 3-F
by Mother Of The Universe
Summary: They where just things. They were not supposed to be sentient. They weren't supposed to be kind, or care for eachother. Especially not the human. But they where. They loved eachother, cared for eachother, and so badly wanted the pain to stop. And he wanted to stop hurting them, sometimes. But he would continue to do what was necessary. Handplates belongs to Zarla. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Fellow Underlings! This is the Mother of the Universe. **

**This AU is based on the Devientart comic series called Handplates by Zarla. Handplates is not mine. This AU is mine however. I recomend you check Handplates out however. It's a really cool story about Sans and Papyrus growing up as the experimental creations of Gaster, and the internal struggle of doing what is kind over doing what you may deem necessary. And besides all the good plot, drama, story, character development, and literally one of the best interpretations of Gaster, not to mention the best villain in a series, Handplates also has the cutest Papyrus design. **

**I just hope I do Zarla's characters justice.**

**My version of Frisk is female. My headcannon for Frisk gender is that they are the same gender as the player. As I am a player of Undertale, Frisk would be the same gender as I am. In my case, both Frisk and I are woman. Frisk personality is ultimately ambiguous, though I can infer that she would prefer not to kill everyone, since it's only in the pacifist ending that she tells you her name. Her characterization here is curious, friendly, a bit flirtatious, and very empathetic. Everything else about her will be revealed with time. **

**Basically, this AU is what would happen if Frisk had also been a creation of Gaster, along with Sans and Papyrus, in the Handplate's timeline. Which is going to add a whole new dynamic to everything. **

**Undertale belongs to Toby Fox.**

**Handplates belongs to Zarla. **

**And without further ado, on with the show!**

* * *

**Handplates **

**3-F**

**Ch. 1**

* * *

_I was able to make two "SOULs" from my own essence. I shouldn't be surprised that I was able to create another one from DT, and the blueprints I have traced from the Green SOUL. The SOUL I created is Human, instead of Monster, like the other two. This should be of benefit to me. Nothing can possibly make me feel sympathy towards a human, if the beings I create turn out to even be sentient at all. _

_There is one thing that worries me, however. DETERMINATION is a human's ability to persist after death. Even more so, if the TRAIT a Human is made from is DETERMINATION, they may be able to connect to FUN, a system which nature even I am unsure of. This can be dangerous. There are rumors that SOULS with enough DETERMINATION have the power to manipulate time. Of course, this may be nothing more than superstition. _

_The point is; The main TRAIT of the Green SOUL is KINDNESS. Not a false statement, as the being it belonged to was surprisingly friendly for a human. So much so, I almost pitied them. However, because of the DT I added to the SOUL's copy, the main trait of my third creation is no longer KINDNESS, but DETERMINATION instead. While the emotional benefits of this change in TRAIT are high, DETERMINATION is not a trait I was hoping I'd have to face. If the rumors are true, though that is a big IF, then this thing I create may prove to be hard to control._

* * *

Three suspension tubes hosted three unconscious individuals. The first tube held a small skeleton, with a round head, and a permanent smile built into his bones. There wasn't much that could be told about him, not yet. He was male, and had a dangerously low amount of HP, though Dr. Gaster was hoping he could fix this problem before releasing his specimens from the suspension tubes. His stats where also low, and the description of "Kinda Tired" provided to him did nothing to improve Gasters confidence in the survival of the thing, though he would try to keep it alive.

The second tube also hosted a skeleton, though he was taller than his neighbor. His stats where average, as was his health, thank god, though his description concerned Gaster. It read "Wishing for Warmth". The suspension chambers weren't exactly cold, which lead the scientist to believe that the "warmth" this skeleton was wishing for wasn't temperature related, but more on an emotional standpoint. This scared him slightly. Even if they where sentient, if the specimens held no emotion, things would be easier. But this thing in the second suspension chamber hadn't even fully developed yet, and it was already starting to show signs of emotional capability.

The third and final tube held something unlike the previous ones. Instead of a skeleton, it hosted a human female, around the size of the first skeleton, with brown hair growing off the top of her head. Or, at least it looked human. Humans where born from two individuals who had engaged in a somewhat strange activity known as "sex". It was their way of reproducing, apparently, though Gaster hadn't been bothered to learn how it worked. All he knew was that skeletons did not reproduce that way, nor did many other fellow Monsters.

But this human was created by mixing DT extraction with the clone of a SOUL, and grown in a suspension tube instead of the womb of a mother. Even her stats weren't sure if she was human or not, reading "human or monster?". Gaster supposed that the proper word for this creature would be "homunculus". After all, she was made from the soul of a dead human. Gaster let himself smirk, knowing that Alphys would be ecstatic to learn of the possibility that homunculi could exist. Her favorite character from one of her favorite anime's was a homunculus apparently. Gaster had yet to watch that particular one, and he wasn't planning to anyways. He had gotten the idea of creating a homunculus from a history book, not an anime anyways. He didn't need Alphys to think otherwise; he wouldn't hear the end of it.

Suddenly, he heard a small bang on the glass of the suspension tube. He almost spat out his coffee, but was relieved to see that it was just the first skeleton experiencing a brief period of consciousness, as had all three of his specimens in the past. This time, though, he seemed to take notice of the two creatures next to him, also in tubes.

His attention to them caused both to also experience conciseness.

Gaster quirked an eyebrow at this, but continued to observe in silence. All three of the specimens stared at eachother, at a loss for what to do. The human's eyes opened up, only slightly, but still enough for Gaster to notice the multi-colored iris. They all seemed to sense eachother. The small glowing orbs in the sockets of the first skeleton narrowed slightly. It seemed he was suspicious of those around him, though he didn't seem to hold any hostile intent, yet. The second one seemed much more trusting of the two things next to him. His jaw moved in a way that was mimicking a smile. The human tilted her head slightly, eyeing the two creatures. No suspicion. No excitement. Just curiosity. Gaster noticed that all three of their descriptions in their stats had changed to mimic their feelings. They read "Know's something's near" "Notices it's kin", and "Can feel others," respectively. This gave Gaster a foreshadowing of their personalities.

Without warning, however, all three specimens started to glow. The white orbs in the first one's eyes turned a light blue color, that was brighter than it's initial white orbs. The edges of the second ones oval sockets glowed a warm orange in response. A red light shown through the humans iris's, like a flashlight. Gaster sipped his coffee, watching the three specimens interact. They where communicating.

_Chance of sentience: 87%_

* * *

Gaster took the smallest skeleton out of suspension first, knowing he couldn't be careless. He was in full concentration mode. All three of the specimens where unconscious. He used is Magic hands to unhook the small boy from the wires, one at a time, in order to ensure stabilization. He increased the dosage in healing magic in the main tube that was attached to the skeleton's soul, similar to the umbilical cord of a human. This tube he would take off last. After ensuring that there was no damage to the body, he began to drain the liquid out of the suspension tube. He took it slow and steady, occasionally increasing the healing magic as necessary. Over exposer to magic of any kind, even if it was benevolent, could be dangerous, and Gaster preferred all three specimens alive. This would be difficult, considering the small one's HP seemed to stubbornly refuse to raise higher than 1.

Once the liquid was drained and the glass was removed, Gaster carefully detached the tube from the youngest one's soul, and placed it into a hospital bed, hooking it to an IV cord. He did the same for the second skeleton, with the removal process being much faster due it's higher endurance, and having already done the process once.

He was a little more careless with the human however. One look at her body reminded Gaster of the species he despised so much, and he felt unwilling to put in the proper effort to ensure a comfortable removal. Besides, she had an HP of 20, and a human body was capable of enduring even the most horrible of injuries and surviving. She wouldn't die.

When he took her out of suspension, he ended up causing several small blibbits of blood to pour from her body, due to pulling the wires out somewhat aggressively. He drained the chamber of liquid, watching the humans stats to make sure she didn't die. She was currently at 10/20, though he didn't much care. He could give her some healing food later, and it'd be as if nothing would've happened. Any mark the damage left on her body would be superficial. As long as her soul stayed in tact, fixing the body would only require the bare minimum amount of healing magic. She'd be fine.

By the time he took her out of the suspension tube and hooked her to the IV, her HP read 4/20. As the healing magic inside the IV took it's course, Gaster realized that he may have been a bit too rough on that particular specimen. Thinking of her as human made him despise her, but she was still his creation, like the two skeletons in the beds next to her. He couldn't be careless with her. She had to live long enough to serve his purposes. Besides, she wasn't exactly _human_ human anyways. She looked like one, and her soul resembled one. She was a homunculus, and thinking of her in those terms allowed Gaster to keep a cool head on his shoulders. Here he had been worried about growing attached to these things, but he had never considered the negative impact of him despising the specimens either. She was built so that Gaster could further Monsterkind, not as a living punching bag for him to take out petty revenge on.

As soon as the three of them where stabilized and somewhat conscious, he dressed them in all in pale green hospital gowns, and placed them each in separate cells. He didn't know of their intentions, so he couldn't risk placing them around eachother. Not yet, anyways. He'd wait. See what they where capable of, and how they would act around eachother. He couldn't make unnecessary risk.

Gaster eyed the three of them on video camera's in their rooms. They where awake, though they seemed to be in a daydream-like state. Their eyes where glowing; one blue, one orange, one red. They where all silent and still, breathing quietly.

This was going to be a strange journey.

* * *

**And that is it. **

**Leave a review! I hope you all enjoyed. Any suggestions, theories, and thoughts will be helpful! **

**Again, Handplates belongs to Zarla. You can find her pretty easily on Devientart. Just look up Handplates and you'll find so much fanart for their story, and any of that art will hold a link to their page. **

**~MotherUniverse signing out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, Underlings! After a long trip to Europe I was finally able to come home and be reunited with my laptop once again. And with that, I am able to update this story! Thank you to the ones who reviewed. I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Undertale belongs to Toby Fox**

**The wonderful AU known as Handplates belongs to Zarla**

**And without further ado, on with the show!**

* * *

**Entry number #& &$%#~Y&**

_As expected, the human-like creature was the first to fully awaken. Her body is the strongest, after all. She seems nervous, but curious. She had touched everything in the room, running her fingers across the cracks in the tiles, and tapping each part of the wall, listening to the sounds that each tap makes. She even touched the beams that keep her cell close, and while they do not cause a loss in HP, due to safety reasons, the electric shock they administer when touched was enough to keep her from touching them again. Her particular favorite item is the pillow and blanket I've provided her, though I'm not surprised. She hugged the pillow, and now it seems she won't let go. She is shivering. I'll have to keep that in mind. Creatures with skin and blood, human or monster, are naturally more effected by temperature than skeleton's are. I may have to give her a robe in addition to her hospital gown. _

_I decided to pay her a visit, to observe her myself. _

_She's curious about me, as she is with everything. She is currently reaching through the bars of her cell. I think she's trying to touch me. She seems disappointed that she can't reach, but is soon enough distracted by the smell of my coffee. A contrast to the smell of cold air and bleach. She is grasping the air. Maybe she is trying to touch the smell. When she finds that she cannot touch anything, she then reaches for me again. Curious as to what she will do, I hand her a lint ball from the pocket of my coat. It's better than nothing. She is about to take it, but hesitates. Maybe she is weary? _

_No. She's staring at the injuries in my hands. And she's crying. It's silent, thank god, except for an occasional sniffle, though tears are pouring from her eyes in large amounts. She points to her palm and makes an odd noise. Sort of like a whimper. I'm not sure how, but it seems as if she _knows_ that these are injuries, and that she _knows_ they hurt. Keen insight. It may be an effect of her DETERMINATION. I pocket the lint ball. Clearly she doesn't want it. I leave to go back to the camera feed. _

_I've checked on the human again. It appears she's still crying._

* * *

_It's been 6 hours since I removed them from the M-D solution. They are clumsy and fearful. They stumble and trip like child-_

_As expected, little experience in non-suspension has lead to a difficult adjustment period, particularly regarding ambulatory motion. It will come in time, I'm sure. They are currently separated, as the nature of their interest in eachother is unclear at this point. I will investigate this more carefully at a later date after they've mastered movement. The skeletons, at least, do not appear to understand me or be capable of speech. The human hasn't spoken, but her strange crying indicates that she is sentient/capable of emotions. I cannot say the same for the skeletons, however. It will be easier if they are not. _

_It does not matter either way. The line was crossed long ago. There is no turning back now…_

Gaster was interrupted from his writings when he heard a loud and violent scream coming from the cell where he had placed the larger of the two skeletons. Somewhat annoyed, Gaster marched down the hall, armed with bones just in case. "What's with all the ruckus" he grumbled to himself.

He finally arrived at the cell in mention, where the skeleton was sitting on the ground, staring at his arm, which had detached itself somehow. Gaster let out a huff of frustration. "Limb detachment is entirely normal and completely painless for a skeleton," He grumbled angrily, letting himself into the young monsters cell, grabbing the detached arm, and attempting to put it back, while the skeleton tried to kick him away.

"Stay still," Gaster demanded, as the boy backed up to the wall of his room, still continuing to scream bloody murder. "Do you even understand me!?" Gaster snapped in frustration. This was his first interaction with the taller skeleton and already the thing had managed to get on his nerves. Not even the human had managed to do that. "Just stay still!"

The thing continued to scream and cry, his voice loud enough to be heard in the next cell over. If Gaster listened hard enough, he could've sworn that he heard one of the other specimens start to cry as well, getting scared by the constant screaming. Gaster's headache only seemed to grow.

"I SAID STAY STILL!" He shouted, and in a burst of anger, he turned the skeleton's soul Blue, and slammed him against the wall. The cry's turned into frightened whimpers.

Gaster held the detached limb up to it's spot so it could re-connect. "With the right distance and the proper will…" He muttered, before letting go of the arm, which was now safely attached where it was supposed to be. "There, utterly normal and completely painless. Undeserving of such a fuss—"

Gaster was caught off-guard when the skeleton suddenly jumped at him, wrapping his arms tightly around Gaster's torso like a hug, and nuzzling his face into the scientist clothes. A strange sensation; something that felt like a warm heart attack, spread throughout Gaster's entire body. He roughly pushed the young skeleton off of him, and exited the cell.

* * *

_Seven hours since removal. The little— smaller skeleton is awake. I'm surprised both that he's survived outside at all, given his frailty, and that he's woken up again so quickly. He may be hardier than I initially thought, which is promising. I went to observe him in person. A transcript of my notes follows: _

_I am keeping my distance at first. He is poking and prodding at the walls and the floor, though he does not come near the forcefield, unlike the human. He may sense the aura it gives off. His behavior is similar to that of the human, though it seems he has an ulterior motive than just plain curiosity. I get the impression he is trying to find a way out. Perhaps he wants to go back to the suspension? _

_He has yet to make any sound. It's preferable to the other skeleton's constant whining. Even the human's silent crying has proven to be… annoying. He may not be capable of sound, or he may just be too focused on his exploration. I've come closer, and he's caught sight of me. He's wary and suspicious, though still silent. So he's more perceptive than the other two specimens, at least. _

_I've taken another step closer. His eyes flared a deep purple color, interlaced with blue, and he backed up against the wall. Another step closer, his eyes are glowing brighter. I can sense magic gathering within his soul, but he's too young— new to know how to make it manifest into an attack. If he could open his mouth, I'm sure he'd snap at me. You can't use magic to defend yourself yet, as much as you try. I wonder what you'll do if I keep approaching? _

_Closer still. He is getting quite frantic. _

_He's rattling his bones at me! _

The small skeleton continued to rattle his bones, the "klak-a-lak" sound echoing throughout his cell. He kept rattling, until he fell down, dizzy. Gaster let out a soft laugh in amusement.

_At that point I decided to leave him be to attend to other matters. _

_The two skeletons differ strikingly in temperament. One docile, one hostile. I cannot quite get a read on the that of the human's, however. She seems curious, but that is the extent of her currently known nature. Her crying leads me to believe she, like the taller skeleton, is also more docile, though it's possible she may be afraid. Either way, she is likely going to hold some moderation of both the other specimens nature. Wether or not this will make things easier or harder, I will have to see._

* * *

"What is it?!" Gaster snapped, "you've been crying for hours!"

It had been 18 hours since the three specimens had been let out of suspension, and 2-P was throwing a tantrum again, like he had done over his limb detachment. This time, however, all limbs where attached, and he had absolutely no reason to be crying like that.

All three specimens had been upset. While neither 1-S nor 3-F where screaming as loudly as 2-P (thank god), they had been sure to express their discomfort when they had walked by.

Gaster checked over 2-P one more time, just in case he missed something. Harshly grabbing the young skeleton's jaw, he angrily muttered, "There's nothing wrong with you. You haven't hurt yourself that I can tell, I don't understand why—" Gaster was interrupted when 2-P placed Gasters hand in his mouth and started to naw at it. "Your _hungry_, of course!" Gaster breathed out in realization, irritated that he hadn't figured it out sooner. "You need to _eat_ now that you're outside the suspension. I can't believe I forgot!"

Gaster grabbed a chocolate bar from the fridge, handing a slice to the hungry specimen. "I was saving this for dinner, but it'll have to do for now until I can find something more substantial," Gaster hummed. The young skeleton stared at the chocolate piece, unsure what to do. "Look it's safe to eat, see?" Gaster said, taking a bite of it himself to show the little one how to do it. "I should check on the others. If you're hungry, they must be as well,"

The human was pretty easy to feed, as to be expected. Though, she had now a new sense to add to her innovatory; taste. And now she was trying to lick all the things she had previously touched, smelled, and listened to. Gaster let out a groan as he watched her lick the wall to her cell, then put her blanket into her mouth and start to suck on it. Things made from flesh could get sick that way! He'd have to keep an eye on her health. He hoped that her licking things would just be a faze.

1-S was having trouble eating, since he couldn't open his mouth. "Use magic to eat it, here, watch me," Gaster instructed, teaching the young thing how to transfer monster food from the open space to inside himself. The skeleton picked up pretty quickly after a few tries.

* * *

For the next week, Gaster helped teach the three specimens simple things. He had given all three of them numbers, in order to find something to call them. The smaller skeleton he labeled WDG 1-S, as he was the first he had taken out of the suspension tube, and therefore technically the oldest of the three specimens. The taller skeleton was WDG 2-P, while the human was WDG 3-F. It made it easier for him to reference the three instead of calling them "taller skeleton, smaller skeleton, and human".

2-P mastered walking pretty easily. He was enthusiastic to try things, and wanted to work hard. His stats now read "wants to do a good job". Gaster did as any would do when teaching things, give praise and encouragement as a reward for good and positive behavior, while harsh words and disappointment was good for failure. 2-P mastered walking with little effort. It showed hope for it's ability to do things.

1-S had a much harder time walking. His stats still read "Kinda Tired", which reflected in his energy level. Even the simplest of motions seemed to exhaust him. He would walk a slight bit, only to fall over and fall asleep. Gaster had to catch him often. He once was going to try to carry 1-S back to his cell, but had that feeling again; the warm heart attack. So he instead carried the little skeleton using blue magic.

The human, 3-F, was another matter entirely. Her bones seemed to understand the basic walking skills, though her muscles and fleshy substances on her body hindered the process. She had much more physical attributes to work on when it came to walking. However, when she did finally manage to stumble across the room and into the outstretched arms Gaster had waiting for her, she had offered him a bright smile, her multi-colored eyes practically glowing with pride and excitement.

He did not expect to feel the warm heart attack for the human…

* * *

As Gaster walked by 2-P's cell, he was suddenly hit with some form of projectile. One look at the missing limb and the smug look on his face told Gaster that the skeleton had just thrown his arm at him.

"Fine," Gaster snapped, shaking the detached limb in 2-P's face. "If you don't want it then I'm just going to keep it until you learn to behave yourself,"

After an hour of listening to the young skeleton whine, he gave the arm back to spare himself the headache.

* * *

A large blanket in hand, Gaster approached each of the specimens cells, planing to test out a method of inelegance testing he had read in a science book. He would throw the blanket over their heads, and see how long it would take them to get out.

He placed the blanket over 3-F. She touched it, sniffed it, and wrapped it around her body like a cocoon, before putting a decent chunk of it into her mouth and sucking on it. Gaster wasn't sure why he expected much else.

2-P made some questioning noises when the blanket was placed over him, but he soon started enjoying it, making noises that where similar to roars, as if he where pretending to be some sort of blanket creature.

1-S sat with the blanket over his head for several seconds before falling over, asleep.

Needless to say, Gaster was disappointed in all three of them.

* * *

_An unexpected development: I left the three of them within earshot of one another while I was clearing out one of the work rooms for future use. It didn't take them long to realize the others where nearby. Perhaps a side-effect of the nature of their SOULs. _

"UUUUUWAAAAA!" 2-P cheerfully called out to the others. 1-S mumbled loudly back in response, excited to hear 2-P make his noise again. After a few moments, 3-F eventually joined in, making raspberry noises, causing the other two to make sounds similar to laughing.

_They made meaningless animal noises at eachother. (Subject 1 IS capable of it after all). Nothing unusual or noteworthy, but then…_

_They began to babble._

"amuh da, no no, daba dah!"

"DISPABEH"

"Spespuh nao!"

_I could recognize the noises they were stringing together. Bits and pieces of things I'd said to them. They even mimicked my tone of voice, though clearly without understanding. They can speak! They can learn! They are sentient after all._

_I don't know how I feel about this. I specifically accelerated their growth because I didn't want them to look like children, I don't want them to SOUND like children!_

_It's… unnecessary. _

1-S threw his hands up in big gestures, each three voice getting increasingly more excited. The human even said a real word. ("lick", of course…)

_The rapid growth may apply to their minds as well… If they can progress to an adult level of understanding, at least then… _

_I will introduce all three of them to eachother tomorrow with the proper precautions in place. This wasn't in my plans, but one must always be ready to improvise. We'll see what happens. _

"Frisk!" The human suddenly shouted. Gaster shook slightly. It almost sounded as if she had given herself a name. "Frisk! Frisk! Frisk! Frisk! Frisk!" She shouted to them, over and over, and the two skeletons started to yell "Frisk" back to her. Gaster shuttered, a chill running down his spine. She was WDG 3-F. She was a homunculus; a thing!

Things couldn't have names.

He didn't write that part down.

* * *

**End end chapter! Hope you all like. Read and review and all that. And make theories, too. That would be fun! **

**~MotherUniverse signing out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! Sorry it's been a while. I've been posting this story on AO3, and I've been forgetting to post it here too. So, I apologize. Anyways, here's the next chapter of Handplates 3-F. Next should be posted soon. **

**Hanplates belongs to Zarla. Look her up on DevientArt. She's amazing. **

**Undertale belongs to Toby Fox **

* * *

_This is it. All three subjects are going to meet. I'm keeping a tight hold on both their souls, so if they fall to fighting, it should be a matter of moments to separate them before any of them is hurt. It's best to be prepared. I'm not entirely sure what to expect. _

2-P looked into the room where he saw 1-S hiding behind a desk. 3-F was in the next room over, and he planned to introduce her to the two skeletons as soon as they accumulated to eachother.

2-P grabbed Gaster by the coat and hid behind him, whimpering in fear. Gaster flinched, pushing the needy skeleton away from himself, snapping at him not to touch.

"DUN TASH ME!" The little skeleton mimicked his words, causing Gaster another one of those warm heart attacks.

2-P slowly approached the other skeleton, unsure what to make of him. 1-S continued to hide, unsure if this new being would attack him or not.

_They've seen eachother… they seem at a loss for what to do. Subject 1 seems wary. Subject 2's eyes have began to glow a warm red-orange color. Subject 1 soon began glowing light blue in response. This seems to have calmed them a little. They are approaching eachother… _

2-P reached out… and stuck his hand right through 1-S's eye socket. Gaster suppressed a laugh at this odd interaction as the two of them began to touch eachother, curious as to what the other was. He quickly fetched the human.

_I have grabbed the human, and am planning to introduce her now. I found her touching, smelling, listening to, and licking all the items in the room I left her in. Of corse. _

_I have now guided her into the room. The other two subjects have taken notice of her. Subject 2 attempts to approach her, but Subject 1 stops him. They've seen eachother for barely a few seconds and he already seems to be protective of 2-P. _

_Subject 3 continues to approach, slowly, her hands out in front of her. She babbles a greeting to them, and her eyes start to glow. This seems to allow them to trust her. Subject 2 begins to run over to her again, and Subject 1 lets him this time, approaching himself, albeit more slowly and cautiously than his fellow skeleton. _

_They have made contact. She is intent on touching every part of them, as she is with everything. The two skeletons are currently playing with her skin, seemingly amused by her squishy bits. She seems not to mind the invasive contact. She is feeling them, and they are feeling her. A mutual thing, I guess. They are curious about one another. They are the first living things they've seen aside from myself after all._

Gaster stopped writing, simply observing. They felt each others jaws, taking a peculiar curiosity in the fact that 3-F had a tongue and they didn't. The three of them picked eachother up, placed their hands through different holes, felt each others faces, lifted their arms, and much more. The human found herself amused by the sounds knocking on the two skeleton's rib cage made, while the others where particularly fascinated by her squishy skin and muscles. 2-P crouched down to try to match the hight of both his fellow subjects, as they where both smaller than him. Unsurprisingly, 3-F reached over, and licked 2-P's face. He seemed to get rather flustered by this action. At least his reaction kept her from licking either of them again.

They started to speak to eachother, and told eachother things they knew. 2-P explained to his companions that the thing branching out of their shoulders where called arms, and the thing at the end of it was a hand.

_They are very eager and quick to learn. Already their level of speech has advanced at an astonishing rate just by speaking to eachother. As one learns something new, so the other builds off of what they learned to new heights. A mutual scaffolding. _

2-P accidentally pulled 1-S's arm off, causing both 1-S and 3-F to freak out.

"SHHH!" 2-P quickly silenced the two of them "NO CRY!" He then placed the arm back, much to the relief of 1-S and 3-F. "SEE? ONE OKAY. ONE NO-MAL," He hummed to them.

3-F pulled on her own arm. "Won't off?" She told the two of them, confused.

1-S started to shake, rattling his bones. 2-P did the same, while 3-F watched in envy, finding herself unable to do the same action. The two skeletons looked at eachother, then at 3-F, understanding that even as they where different from eachother, she was more different then either of them. They seemed slightly saddened that 3-F couldn't rattle her bones. So she did something else, that only she could do, since the other two lacked the necessary appendages.

She blew a raspberry.

And it continued like this for a while, the two skeleton's rattling their bones while the human blew raspberry's. They all seemed pleased with their actions.

They stopped when 2-P began to reach out for the two of them. He hesitated when they gave him a questioning look.

Suddenly, 2-P pulled the two of them into a tight embrace. After some hesitation, both the skeleton and the human hugged back. They held onto eachother tightly, as if they where afraid letting go would mean that their new companions would fade away. They all nuzzled into eachother, trying to get as close as space would allow. 2-P buried his face into the top of 3-F's hair, finding the tuff of string-like fluff a comfortable thing to hide himself in. They all closed their eyes, but the bright green light that escaped from the skeleton's eyelids was unmistakable. The human was also glowing, although her glow seemed to never be any color besides red. Gaster assumed that it may have been because of her soul. Frankly, considering human bodies, he was surprised that she would even glow at all; it was more of a skeleton thing, after all.

_They are getting attached to eachother very quickly. If I want the three to mature rapidly, leaving them together seems the most obvious choice. At the same time, emotional bonds like this carry their own risk. _

"Alright, that's enough" Gaster commanded, demanding the three separate. They looked disappointed and sad. The human even sniffled slightly. But they obeyed the command.

_On the other hand, perhaps those bonds can be exploited later, should the need arise. _

The human and the two skeletons bonded rather quickly. He still didn't let them room together, worried that the two heartier subjects may hurt 1-S by accident. He always kept them within his sights, whenever they where together, just in case.

3-F had stopped licking things after her small incident with 2-P, which was a relief to Gaster. He was afraid her tendency would get her sick. She still felt the need to suck on things, though, with blankets and her own gown being first choice. After an unfortunate incident of all three subjects freaking out when 3-F lifted her gown a little too high for comfort, Gaster had given her a pair of shorts to wear under the gown to avoid awkward questions that he seriously didn't feel like answering.

She wasn't the only subject that wanted to put her mouth on everything. 2-P was biting everything. Gaster couldn't be sure if he picked up the habit from 3-F or if he would've done so without her, but either way, he found it annoying. While he wouldn't get sick from germs on the objects like the human would, some of the things Gaster caught him chewing on where important to his work!

At least 1-S couldn't bite things with the way his face was constructed.

The difference between the skeletons and the human where noticed often. One time, 1-S had refused to let 3-F play with them, telling her "skele's only!" 3-F had promptly burst into tears, insisting that she was a skeleton too, and wouldn't stop crying even after 1-S apologized. She finally calmed down when both the skeletons hugged her. 1-S never did that again.

While 2-P and 3-F where blissfully unaware, 1-S had taken notice of Gaster's behavior towards the human. He more cold to her than he was to them (and that was saying something), and also snapped at her more often. He called her "human". 1-S didn't have the speech abilities to ask Gaster why he seemed to like 3-F less than he did the two of them, but the question still lingered in his mind.

3-F hadn't referred to herself as Frisk since the day the three specimens first spoke to eachother. It was as if she had forgotten this word all together, which Gaster was grateful for. 2-P had taken to calling her "HUMAN", much like Gaster called her. She seemed to take no offense with the nickname, at least not when 2-P said it. He didn't miss how she recoiled as if snapped at whenever Gaster himself where to call her "human". She must be aware that Gaster meant it as something of an insult, while 2-P didn't.

The three of them where playing hand games together, while speaking a kind of gibberish that only the three of them seemed to understand. Gaster was working on papers at his desk, coffee cup right next to him.

"dada!" He suddenly heard 1-S shout, and the other two subjects where quick to copy the word.

Gaster felt the warm heart attack, stronger this time. So much so, that he nearly spasmed, knocking over his coffee cup and pushing multiple papers off the table. The three looked over at him, curious as to his reaction.

_It's just a coincidence_… Gaster told himself, unwilling to believe otherwise.

Gaster slaved over some paperwork, while the three subjects watched him. Much to his ignorance, they where copying his movements.

"I don't understand, what I am missing?!" Gaster snapped, throwing his hand in a frustrated gesture. "Everything else is adding up, there's no reason this shouldn't lead to the correct sum! Unless one of my suppositions is incorrect?"

He clenched his fist in triumph. "Aha! I should've guessed, I knew it! Of course it wouldn't count the alternating values! Yes, finally! I KNEW there was a way to get this to resolve! I am a GENIUS!"

The three mimicked the excited clenching of fist. "Yes!" They all shouted out.

The three of them where touching eachother again. This time they where comparing their bellies. 1-S's clothing bulged as if there where a large tummy underneath, despite there being nothing more but bone. They noticed that 3-F had a bit of a tummy, though smaller than 1-S's, but it was explainable by the actual tummy, made from flesh, underneath her gown. Curious, 2-P turned to Gaster.

"Why?" He asked.

Gaster shrugged. "Why not?"

Gaster regretted giving the three of them chocolate. They somehow got it melty all over their fingers and faces. He took a soapy rag and tried to wipe it off, starting with 2-P, who was struggling, disliking the feeling of the cloth roughly rubbing his face.

So he bit down on the rag (and Gaster's hand) when it got close enough to his mouth. He started to gawk and sputter, upset with the odd and terrible taste of soap. 1-S laughed at his misery.

"You see, that's what you get, I told you not to bite," Gaster scolded, only to find his washcloth swiped from him. He glanced over to see it handing out of the mouth of one 3-F. Of course, 2-P got to taste the rag, so it was only fair that she got to taste it. The look on her face told the skeleton's that she had instantly regretted her decision.

Seeing as scrubbing them with a washcloth was rather difficult, Gaster had elected to give the subjects a bath this time. He undressed them, though kept the humans pants on, (again, wanting to avoid awkward questions), and filled the tub. The three explored the new thing in front of them as Gaster prepared the soap.

"WHA IS?" 2-P asked curiously. They didn't trust the clear liquid, evident by 1-S quickly pulling 3-F's hands away from the unknown substance when she tried to touch it.

"It's water," Gaster replied, casually.

"wa-der" 1-S repeated.

Deeming it safe, he finally allowed the human to touch it. 3-F gasped a bit as the water moved, rippling from the place she touched it. Everything she had been in contact with thus far had been solid. She had never tried to touch something that would just fall away from her hands.

"WATER! WATER!" 2-P chanted excitedly, touching it as well.

"wobbly water" 1-S added, not touching it himself, but observing it's moments as the other two splashed their hands in the substance.

Gaster dropped all three of them into the tub with blue magic.

The three of them coughed and sputtered a bit, unsure what to do, but they soon found themselves enjoying the warm and splashy water. 3-F in particular enjoyed the feeling of water on her skin. As expected, she put some in her mouth. She had drank water before, albeit from a container, and she recognized the taste. She was about to swallow it down, feeling the consumptionable abilities, but 1-S stopped her, shaking his head. She promptly spat it out, the liquid flying out of her mouth like a fountain, causing 2-P to giggle.

They started to splash around as Gaster tried to scrub them. He scrubbed shampoo into the human's hair, catching the interest of her companions. After scrubbing his fingers through her hair, both 1-S and 2-P where quick to mimic the movement, and 3-F was more than happy to let them dote on her.

Gaster grabbed 2-P and started to scrub him, while the skeleton in question began to squirm, unhappy with this new development. "Stop squirming, it'll only make it take longer!" He snapped. Soon enough, the young skeleton obeyed. "There, you see. It's much easier when you're not moving around so much!"

2-P relaxed, melting into the man behind him. Gaster flinched at the contact, and pushed the touchy skeleton off of himself.

2-P watched Gaster walk away, and for a second, his companions where sure he was going to cry. He looked at them with watery eyes, so the two other specimens scooted closer, allowing 2-P to hug them. They wrapped their arms around the little boy in return, all three enjoying the hug.

Gaster later took them out of the bath and dried the three off with a knobby towel, and he gave 3-F a dry pair of shorts. As expected, she put the towel in her mouth.

1-S was crying. Gaster had snapped at him slightly when the little skeleton had tried to grab his hand, wanting to show him something. Tears where the last thing he expected from the normally emotionally stable skeleton. The solution was simple, however. He just needed to grab 2-P, and the little boy would take care of the issue rather quickly. He wondered if the same would work on 3-F, though she only ever cried if 1-S was mean to her, which rarely happened, and when it did, it was usually on accident. The only time she ever cried because of him was their strange first interaction.

He later had a chance to test his theory out when 1-S had grabbed an item he had considered "his" away from her, growling at her for her actions. He apologized immediately, but when she wouldn't stop crying, Gaster simply grabbed 2-P and he cheered her up almost instantly.

The three of them liked to be around eachother as often as possible, which meant that Gaster had to also be with them as often as possible, at least until the three understood 1-S's condition. Of course, being around them constantly did have it's downsides.

"SHIT!" Gaster shouted out as a device he'd been trying to fix zapped him. The three immediately latched onto the word, and started chanting it themselves. They only shouted the word louder when Gaster tried to get them to stop. "Oh, NOW you're listening!" Gaster snapped.

The three subjects just kept on chanting.

Gaster had placed a box in the middle of the room when clearing out one of the storage facilities. When he came back to the box, he saw 1-S tucked inside it, rattling his bones at him. He dumped the young skeleton out of the box and into the arms of his awaiting companions.

Later, the three where playing together, and where beginning to roughhouse. "You three, settle down, you're getting to excited and one of you is going to—" He was interrupted by 1-S crying loudly. "Alright, that's enough," Gaster snapped, dragging 2-P and 3-F away from him. "I told you both to calm down," he scolded the two of them. "You're being to rough, and subject 1 is very delicate,"

"I WUZN," 2-P argued.

"You where," Gaster quipped back.

"WUZN, JUS PLAYIN,"

"You shush," Gaster demanded. Using his blue magic, he forced both 2-P and 3-F to sit down at the desk he was working at. "I told you three not to distract me, so now you're just going to sit here and do nothing until everyone's calmed down,"

The human and taller skeleton looked at eachother, saddened. 1-S had calmed down and was playing with a ball. The two gazed jealously, and started to whine.

"Shh!" Gaster demanded again.

Time passed, and the three subjects continued to learn and grow. They had learned that the thing they did with their bones was called "rattling", and that the reason the human couldn't do it was because she had flesh. They also discovered the act of sneezing, when 1-S let out a high-pitched kitten sneeze one day. Both 2 and 3 found it adorable. They where extremely frightened, however, by Gaster's sneeze, which was loud and gruff. Even the human, who was always fascinated with new sounds, senses, and smells, found the noise absolutely terrifying.

Gaster had tried to test their hand-eye cordination and relaxes by throwing a ball at them. 2-P had been particularly fascinated by this action, and even refused to give the ball back once he had it, declaring that it was his, and that there would be "NO TASHING"

_Subject is entering a willful phase. I'm not surprised that they have begun testing their boundaries. I will__— _

Gaster's writing was interrupted when 2-P threw the ball at his head.

The subjects, 3-F especially, had developed a strange obsession with Gaster's lab coat. He wasn't sure why. It was a plain piece of fabric, comfortable to wear, but still not made from any interesting texture, was covered in stains from explosive science projects, old food, and whatever other thing he happened to spill on himself, and smelled heavily like cigar smoke. It wasn't special. And yet, the three of them found it fascinating.

He suspected that 1-S and 2-P liked it because he wore it all the time, though he was still suspicious of 3-F's attachment.

_Steady progress at a rapid rate. They can speak in sentences now. _

_Subject 1 is quiet and soft-spoken. A lowercaser, I'm sure, without much attention to detail and taken to mumbling. 2, however, is more confident and clear - Uppercase, like myself; a voice that demands attention. Subject 3, in contrast to the two skeletons, doesn't really talk much. But when she does, she speaks in regular capitalization, with proper sentences; detailed, but not wanting anyone to draw notice. It does not matter what their fonts are; the human shouldn't even have one, knowing her kind. I did not notice, anyways, and it does not matter. _

_They cry and carry on whenever I have to separate them, but I cannot risk leaving them alone unsupervised until Subjects 2 and 3 can understand 1's condition. _

"WHAT'S THAT MEAN?" 2-P asked, somewhat confused and quiet, strangely enough.

Both he and the human where being told why they had to be careful of 1-S. As usual, 2-P was the one asking questions, though 3-F was listening in intently. 2-P had a tight grip on the humans warm hand, while she gripped back with equal strength. It was clear how much comfort the they took in touching eachother.

"It means that if you hurt Subject 1 even a little, even by accident, he will die," Gaster explained to the two of them.

Both could tell that "die" wasn't something good, even if they didn't know what it was. 2-P opened his mouth to ask the question, but 3-F beat him to it.

"What's die?" She asked.

Gaster took a mental note of how she found that particular word important enough to question it. Speaking was not something she did often, though Gaster wasn't sure why. So he made an effort to keep track of the things she did say, and why.

"It means he will turn to dust, and you will never see him again,"

Both subjects gasped, expressions of horror and fear on their faces. Both of their little bodies shook, and 2-P even started to cry, much to Gaster's dislike. "Stop crying, I'm talking to you," He snapped at him. This only made the crying worse. The human quickly hugged the taller skeleton, whispering words of comfort, as the three of them often did when one of them where crying. 2-P berried his face into her hair, using it to hide.

_Since then, Subjects 2 and 3 have been very careful._


	4. Chapter 4

**New Chapter! I'm posting this mostly on AO3, so if you want the majority of this story, go there. **

* * *

"So, what do you do with a crying baby?"

Now he was certain that 2-P and 3-F would not hurt 1-S, Gaster had begun to leave them alone with eachother. The three subjects kept eachother company, and he would be allowed to have a break. As little as Gaster cared about his own mental health, he could feel the darkness of the lab making his eyesight worse.

It wasn't like the Underground was that bright in general, but the warm glow-lights provided by the Core where much easier on the eyes than the labs fluorescent light bulbs.

Currently, he was paying a visit to Asgore, the monster king, and Gaster's closest friend. The man was practically a father to him, and possibly the only person in the universe who Gaster would willingly take advice from.

"What a sad thought!" Asgore exclaimed, responding to Gaster's question. He didn't know why Gaster was asking such a thing; He didn't know, and if all went according to plan, would never know, about the children in his lab. "Why, you comfort it of course! You hold it, or rock it, or sing to it, until it is soothed,"

Gaster considered Asgore's words, and decided he'd rather not. "I see. What are the other options?"

"Other options?" Asgore said, both confused, and slightly disappointed.

Gaster checked the human's stats once again.

"Human or Monster?"

Gaster sighed. The entire purpose of creating a human was to destroy the barrier. She was built with determination and everything! If her soul didn't work, well…

It didn't matter. He'd find a way to make it work.

Of course, he couldn't test anything at the moment. He would have to move onto the next faze of the experiment first. And he couldn't do that until he was sure the humans body was properly attached to her soul. Which required her to develop her mind.

While a monster's soul and body where practically one and the same, the souls of humans had to be connected to their body by the mind. A weak connection meant a human could die easily, which was why infants and human elderly could be damaged easily. When the mind is fully developed; human adulthood, it becomes impossible for a human to die by magic. Meaning a monster could never touch an adult soul.

Which was why human children where needed to break the barrier.

It took time and effort to develop a human mind. But Gaster had created a human that could never properly achieve fully developed mind, due to the contradictory nature of her body and soul. He didn't want her to die easily; she had to be at least a little bit strong to potentially open the barrier. So he had to wait for her to develop.

But no matter how much time passed, and what he tried to do with her, she would still be a candidate to break the barrier. She could still fulfill her purpose.

He swore he had only turned his back on them for a few seconds. He swore he did not take his eye off them long enough for them to run off and do… well, THAT!

But alas, they still did.

Gaster stood over the three subject in shock. They had somehow got a hold of his screwdriver, and had disassembled his printer. They were both covered in ink. 2-P was practically pouring it on himself, while 1-S wrestled with 3-F to keep her from sticking her ink covered hands in her mouth.

"God! Don't do that!" He snapped at 3-F. "You cannot. Lick. The Ink!"

"Can't taste?" She asked with a slight pout.

"No!" Gaster grumbled. What was wrong with this kid? "If you eat ink, you'll get ink poisoning, and then you'll die!"

2-P perked up at the word "die", worry suddenly plastered on his face. "NO!" he shouted to his companion. "NO LICK! NO DIE, HUMAN!" He grabbed her hands, pushing them towards her lap. The distress seemed to get her attention.

"see!" 1-S told her. "i said 'no licking'!"

The human stuck her tongue out at him.

Gaster grabbed the parts of the printer and put them on top of one of the barren work tables. "What where you even doing anyways?" He grumbled.

"WE DOIN' SCIENCE!" 2-P exclaimed. "PORTAN WORK! VER SMART SKELES! VER SMART HUMAN!"

Gaster just grumbled even more. "Ugh, that ink is going to stain if I leave it… You three would do this right when I'm in the middle of something, it figures!"

He took the three to the bathtub, much to their protest, and started scrubbing them off. As usual, 2-P greatly protested the scrubbing.

"NOOO! NO! NO! NO TASHING! NO TASHIINNG!"

"You brought this on yourself, now shush!"

Gaster felt like he was loosing his mind. His glasses where gone. How could he have walked all the way from the Lab in Hotland to New Home for his meeting with Asgore and Alphys and forgotten his glasses!? It was the subjects faults! They were going to drive him insane, he was sure of it!

"I know I had them earlier," He ranted to his two companions, as they sat down for tea, watching him, wearing amused smiles on their faces for… some reason. "I don't understand where they could have gone. It's not like a pair of glasses could just get up and walk away,"

"A-are you sure you looked e-everywhere?" Alphyse asked, her giggles blending in with her stutter.

Gaster huffed, becoming even more annoyed. "Of course I have, and they're nowhere to be found! I'm just going to have to see if I can find my spare pair back at the lab. Ugh, what a waste of time!"

"There's no need for that, Dr. Gaster," Asgore said casually, grabbing the skeletons arm with his large, fluffy paw, in order to keep him from leaving. "Come on, sit back down,"

"Of course there's a need for it!" Gaster snapped. "I can't see without them. We're not going to get anything done like this!"

"Trust me," Asgore laughed, placing his giant paws on Gaster's shoulders. "You don't need to go back to your lab. It's alright,"

"It's _not_ alright, I need to go get them and we're wasting time why are you—"

The mans ramblings where cut off by Asgore tipping the glasses down from the top of his head, where they where perched, to his bone-made nose hole.

Embarrassed, Gaster faked a cough, hoping to pretend that this entire incident never happened. "So, what's on the schedule for today? We have a lot to cover, I'm sure,"

Asgore would not let him have it. "Do you want to know how long they where up there?

"No"

"Since you came in,"

"I SAID NO!"

Alphyse smiled widely, having filmed the whole thing with her cell phone. _Bratty and Catty are going to love this! _

Any Gaster found that any time the subjects were being loud, leaving the lab was a good idea. It would keep him from blowing up at them. If he blew up at them, then 2-P would cry, and everyone would start shouting louder than before, and Gaster decided that the headache wasn't worth it.

Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, the company of Asgore and Alphyse was something he did enjoy.

He tended to forget that sometimes, Alphyse acted just like the subjects.

For example, the one time she accidentally spilled a smoothie onto his labcoat, and told him to put it on her heat rock to dry (being a reptilian type monster, she required a heat rock to keep her own cold blood from damaging her. Flesh and blood was such an inconvenience). He had heeded her advice, and bend over to place it on said rock, letting a certain appendage face the air.

She squealed when she saw his little tail.

Normally, skeletons kept their tail tucked into their pants. Gaster had been forgetting. He honestly thought he learned his lesson when 2-P had pulled it, or when 3-F attempted to put it in her mouth, but he guessed not.

Gaster felt his cheeks heat up at Alphyse's loud squeal. "Dr. Alphyse, you have a tail of your own, what on earth would justify such a reaction to mine! They're entirely unremarkable in every respect!"

His embarrassment made it worse. "Oh my god now you're getting all flustered over it this is so cute I'm going to die!"

Later that day, Gaster went over some papers. He and Alphyse where going to be picked for a promotional job, though Asgore wanted this to be a surprise. Both the scientist pretended they didn't know about this.

"Yes, this proposal is perfect. There's only two people they could possibly choose for this great responsibility, and I think I have a _pretty_ good idea who they'll be. Don't you?" He said to Alphyse, smiling, and offering a wink.

Gaster had forgotten, however that it was kinda hard to wink when you always kept one eye closed anyways.

"W… what do you mean?" Alphyse asked, confused.

"I mean _us_, of course!" Gaster told her, unamused. "I was winking and everything, couldn't you tell?

Alphyse didn't want to say anything

Once the presentation was over, Asgore had a small afterparty. Gaster had tried to collect some candy, thinking of bringing it back to his lab to give to his subjects.

The problem was, the candy kept falling through the large hole in his hand.

"Oh, Gaster, did you want some candy?" Asgore asked, heading over, noticing Gaster's growing frustration on being unable to do something so _goddamn simple_! "Are you having trouble? I can get it for you, if you like,"

"No, it's fine," Gaster replied, nearly jumping out of his skin in reaction to Asgore's sudden appearance. "I can manage it, you don't have to—"

"Oh, in fact, let me make you a goodie bag! It'll just take a moment, wait there,"

"You don't have to-" Gaster just sighed, giving up.

"Here you are," Asgore returned with a green bag, filled with an assortment of different candies, as well as a few marshmallows. "I even put in some of those marshmallows you love so much! Don't eat it all in one sitting, alright?"

"Thank you!" Gaster grabbed the bag, trying to hurry things along, his cheeks growing red. He was a grown man, Asgore didn't need to act like he was giving candy to some child!

"And don't go eating it instead of a proper dinner either. I don't want to hear—"

"Yes, THANK YOU!" Gaster shouted, the embarrassment intensifying. "I really must be going though! Goodbye!"

Gaster headed home, his cheeks still flushed from the encounter. He knew that every bone in Asgore's body was built to be a dad, but that was just ridiculous! "Well, that was humiliating" Gaster muttered to himself. He looked in the bag, counting at least ten marshmallows. That gave him an idea. "Though, not pointless, at least,"

As soon as he got back to the lab, he presented each of the three subjects with a single marshmallow.

"Now listen carefully," He explained. He had said the same thing three separate times, keeping each subject in a different room to eliminate them copying their peer. "You can eat this marshmallow right now, _but_ if you don't eat it, and wait for fifteen minutes, you'll get two marshmallows.

"SO, WAIT FIVTEEN, GET MORE MALLOWS?" 2-P questioned.

"Yes, that's right,"

"one mallow… two mallows…" 1-S had hummed to himself, obviously trying to figure out the difference, and which option would benefit him more.

The human, as usual, didn't say anything, but had grabbed the marshmallow and started to feel it, amused by it's squish. Gaster simply rolled his eyes at her antics.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Remember what I said,"

1-S stared at the thing hungrily. "Want mallow… want…" He sat, staring at it, trying to be patient, before eventually falling asleep.

_Well, that's one way to do it, I suppose, _Gaster thought, coming back to see the sleeping skeleton next to the untouched marshmallow.

2-P had a different solution. "CANT EAT… NO EAT…" He bent down to the edge of the table, reaching out to the white fluffy thing. "MAYBE… TOUCH IS OKAY… NICE MALLOW…"

He somehow ended up befriending the thing.

3-F, on the other hand, had technically never eaten the marshmallow, but she had done all but with the thing. She squished it, she smelled it, she licked it, she put it in her mouth, took it out, and became amused that the candy became slightly sticky when combined with human saliva. She ended up pushing it onto the wall, trying to get it to stick. It fell off the moment she let go, but it did stick to the dust on the floor.

Gaster came into the room, not sure what else he expected, but disappointed none the less.

The human gave him a cheeky smile, seeing his lack of amusement on her dust-covered creation. "Didn't eat" She said, snark in her voice.

Gaster raised an eyebrow. Did she just… sass him?

The test over, he rewarded his subjects with a second marshmallow, though he did take the humans sticky and dusty one and throw it in the trash. He refused to give her a replacement, not like she cared, but both the skeletons where a little upset at this.

"She didn't eat," 1-S said. "She gets two mallows," He insisted.

"She did get two. One of them she covered in dust and made inevitable," Gaster tried to explain. It did nothing to keep the two boys from pestering him.

"You not bein' fair," 1-S chided. "You breakin' rules. She get's two marshmallows!"

"HUMAN GETS TWO! HUMAN GETS TWO!" 2-P began chanting.

After several minutes of the skeletons bothering him, Gaster finally gave in, giving the human her second one.

"Your going to be the end of me!" He snapped at her in frustration. As usual, his snapping didn't bother her a single bit. She just smiled, and said nothing.

The three subjects sat in their room, making conversation, while Gaster watched them over the video camera. They had been learning new words. They're speech abilities where improving. They had only been alive for a few months, and they where proving themselves to hold a vast intellect.

"I can do this!" The human declared. Her eyes started glowing red; magic flowing through them. Gaster knew humans gained certain abilities when interacting with magic; such as reading font, or gaining the Fight/Mercy option in battle, but Frisk could do something that only monsters could; check the stats of her companions without entering a Fight first.

The two skeletons didn't notice what the human was doing at first. Not until she told them.

"You have 25 HP. You want to do a good job!" 3-F announced, pointing at 2-P. "And you have 1 HP! You're Kinda tired," She said to 1-S

"WHAT'S HP?" 2-P asked his human companion. She just shrugged.

"why do i only have 1?" 1-S muttered, slightly annoyed, before turning to the human. "What do you say?" He asked her.

She closed her eyes tightly and concentrated, the red glow peaking out from under her eyelids. "I say…" She trailed off. "20 HP. Monster or human?"

"MONSTER OR HUMAN?" 2-P questioned.

"skele's are monsters. gasser calls you human," 1-S stated. "are you not human?"

"I'm…" 3-F trailed off, before going quiet. She didn't say another word, unless it was a one word response to answer a question, for the rest of the day.

The nature of the human was constantly bothering Gaster. Would her soul count as barrier-breaking material? Not even her stats knew what she was.

She could read HP outside of battle. No ACT — CHECK function necessary. And she had figured out how to do so before the skeletons, the _real_ monsters, learned how to. And her eyes glowed. They where like two little red flashlights placed inside her head, and Gaster couldn't stand it. He created this human so she could break the barrier, not to just sit around his lab being useless!

Gaster let out a loud sigh. He couldn't give up hope yet. He hadn't even tested her. Her mind wasn't strong enough for him to try and push her through, so he had to be patient. He would see if she could go in and out of the barrier. And if she could, then his experiment would've been a success. If she couldn't, however…

Well, he could always _make_ her able, one way or another.

He had let the subjects wonder around while he did paperwork, but ended up falling asleep. 2-P, always seeking affection, took advantage of Gaster's inability to protest to place the doctors hand atop his little head. He shook the hand, as if Gaster was patting his head. His companions had done the same to him, and he always loved it.

"Good skele," 2-P whispered, repeating the complements that he always wanted Gaster to say to him. "Ver smart. Like you Lots,"

Gaster would never know

_Entry Number !(#%!*^(^)#&^(!%*%_

_Since I moved them into the same room, they are much quieter and easier to work with. They chatter constantly…_

_Entry Number &^#%(* _

_Whenever I go see them, they are holding or touching each other. They are desperate for physical contact. At least they won't ask it from me. _

_They even sleep like that. It doesn't seem like it'd be their souls glow in unison, even the humans. Her chest becomes warmer, according to the heat signatures, when the skeletons souls are glowing. I believe this happens when they are dreaming. _

Gaster put down his notes, observing the sleeping subjects. 2-P was leaned up against the wall, both 1-S and 3-F curled up in his lap. His head was resting on 1-S's, while his fingers found themselves tangled in 3-F's hair. Her fist held 1-S's nightgown, which had fallen out of her mouth as she fell asleep. He hadn't given them a blanket; skeleton's didn't get cold, and the human had yet to complain about being cold, so he hadn't given her one (yes, he could see her shivering in the camera's every so often, but he didn't care. He didn't want to care). But tonight, they didn't shiver at all; their glowing souls admitting all the warmth they needed.

_Entry number (#^ &^ (%_

_They are voracious eaters. Given their rapid development, it makes sense. Out of curiosity, I gave them half a portion one night to see what they would do. They split the difference. I suspect given only a crumb they'd find a way to share it. I don't know where they learned to be so selfless with eachother. It's not a trait I'd think would be inborn. Especially not in the human. It's little things like these that make me wonder if she's even a human at all. _

_Entry Number (#$^& &^(_

_I gave them one pillow to see who'd assert dominance and claim it for their own. I checked up on them, they'd torn it up and were playing with the stuffing. _

_Entry number ~&((%(&^*#%^* (#&%_

_They never stop asking me questions. At least their vocabulary is growing_

"What is…"

"disappointing?"

"SPECIMEN?"

"Color?"

"alternating current?"

"ELECTRICITY?"

"Energy?"

"marrow?"

"CALCIUM?"

"Muscle?"

"laser?"

"FORBIDDEN?"

"Time?"

_I did make an annoying error, once, while I was distracted. _

"WHAT ARE THEY?" 2-P once asked. Like usual, he was holding his companions in his arms, while the two smaller subjects cuddled close to him. 3-F was, as usual, sucking on her gown. "WHAT IS WE? ARE THEY… ME? AM I THEM?"

"No, you three are not the same person," Gaster replied, focusing on his work.

"THEN WHAT ARE WE?"

"You are things," Gaster answered. "Though, I suppose _technically_ one could say you were siblings—"

That word; _siblings;_ would be the word that united the three of them, and gave them a sense of purpose. Individuality, even. The word that brought them hope. That made them squirm in resistance.

A word that made them monsters and human, not just things.

"siblings?" 1-S repeated. "they're my siblings?"

"My siblings," The human hummed quietly.

"ARE YOU OUR SIBLING TOO?"

"I made you three,"

"BUT.. WHAT ARE YOU? ARE YOU US? WHAT ARE YOU TO US?"

"Quiet!" Gaster snapped.

_They unfortunately latched onto the word. Sibling this, sibling that. Perhaps they'll grow out of it. I should have been more careful with my wording. _

_Things cannot be siblings. _

_A human could _never_ be a proper sibling to a monster. _

_Entry number ^%(* #%_

_They are starting to read. I'm being carful about what I give them… I don't want them getting ideas about the outside world. Plus there are two particular words I'd be dammed if they ever pick up. _

_Subjects 1 and 3 are fast learners. 2 less so. He struggles with reading. And my hope is that he inherited my— it's a physical problem with his eyes and not a mental one. Bad eyes can be fixed. Even with 1 and 3's help, he has difficulty. _

Gaster remembered the picture 2-P had drawn as an answer to the problem he was given. It was of four stick figures holding hands. Two of them where short, one with a circular head and big eyes, meant to be 1-S, and the other with raged lines growing from her head, and two lines as eyes; 3-F. He drew himself taller than the other two, with a square head and a large smile. The tallest figure, wearing glasses, with one eye shut and the other open, was clearly Gaster himself.

_He interprets even the clearest directions in strange ways. He seems intent on sabotaging himself at every turn. _

_1, at least, seems very clever. _

"why don't we ever see anyone else down here? are we a secret or something?"

_Perhaps too much for his own good, at times. _

_The human seems to have her own odd quirks. She's intelligent, and curious, which are good traits for strengthening the mind. However, I will find words written on her paper that I have not taught her. My theory is that she learned such terms by checking my stats. However, there is one word that couldn't have come from me. It couldn't have come from anywhere. _

_DETERMINATION_

_When I asked her where she learned this word, she had said "From the yellow star,"_

_She refused to give further details. _

Gaster searched through books and old lab reports, trying to figure out what the human could have possibly meant by "yellow star". He kept a close eye on her, looking out for any strange behavior. She didn't do anything abnormal. The only clue Gaster had was how she'd consistently stand in the corner of her room every time she woke up, and every time before she went to bed. Her companions had questioned her actions, but she would never give them an answer. The most anyone got out of her when it came to that corner of the room was a shrug.

It had been six months since the subjects had been released from suspension. Over the past six months, Gaster heard rumors amongst the people about the occasional sighting of a yellow flower wearing an angry expression on his face. The maintenance workers at the core had complained several times that Gaster had skipped his routine checks, or that he half-assed them. He didn't really care. He had bigger problems than some rusty nails in the core walls.

These three things he created where going to progress monster kind in ways that have never been seen before. They could break the barrier. And if they couldn't, they could always become weapons. If Gaster did everything right, their magic should be strong enough to kill a human adult.

It was late at night, and the subjects refused to go to bed.

"It's time for you three to go to be— your cell. Let's go!"

"no!" 1-S declared, standing in front of his fellow subjects in a defensive stance, rattling his bones at Gaster. "don worry, i save you! leave us alone!"

2-P was perplexed by this act. 3-F decided to do the same thing, blowing raspberry's at Gaster in place of bone rattling.

2-P grabbed them both, stopping their antics. "OH! NO, IS OKAY! DON'T BE BAD, NO RATTLE! AND NO RASPBERRY'S, OK?"

1-S growled at Gaster, while 3-F seemed offended by her siblings accusation. "I wasn't bad! I was copying Sibling!"

Later, the three sat in their cell, curled up around eachother as usual.

"i don't trust him. he's no good, i know it!" 1-S declared.

"SIBLING!" 2-P scolded. "HE'S NICE, YOU'LL SEE! HE FIXED MY ARM. HE MUST BE GOOD,"

"don't like him. he's up to somethin,"

"SIBLING, BE GOOD!"

A few days later, the three of them played with a dust bunny in their room. "maybe you're right… he hasn't done anything bad so far. maybe he is ok," 1-S decided.

"YOU SEE? I TOLD YOU!" 2-P cheered. Gaster watched their conversations on the monitor, a heavy feeling he didn't care to describe rising in his chest. "EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE, YOU'LL SEE!"

The next thing Gaster ended up teaching the three was SOULS. He had been changing 1-S out of his gown, exchanging it for a clean one. He had 1-S sitting between his legs; closer to himself than he normally let either of them, but he was too tired to use blue magic to keep them still.

"What's that?" The human asked, pointing to the glowing blue heart protected by the rib cage. Gaster nearly jumped out of his skin, not expecting to hear her voice.

"That's his SOUL," Gaster explained. "Most monsters don't have visible SOULs, but skeletons do. Our ribcages offer them some protection,"

3-F pouted, disappointed to find another thing that her siblings could do that she couldn't.

2-P reached his hand forwards, attempting to touch it.

"No," Gaster said firmly, smacking the boys hand. He also made sure to smack the humans for good measure. She had yet to try and touch it, but he knew that she would. "Don't touch someone's SOUL, it's rude. No touching,"

"What's a soul?" 3-F asked.

"It's the culmination of your being,"

"WHAT'S—" 2-P began, slightly confused.

Gaster sighed. "It's what makes you corporeal,"

"WHAT?"

"It's what keeps your bones together,"

"OH. DOES THE HUMAN HAVE A SOUL?"

"Yes,"

"WHY CAN'T I SEE IT?"

"Because her skin and muscle covers it,"

"DOES IT KEEP HER BONES TOGETHER?"

Gaster just let out a groan. He didn't exactly feel like explaining human biology at the moment.

"CAN WE SEE HER SOUL"

"She must learn to summon it, first. That will come later," Technically, Gaster could've summoned it himself, but he didn't have the energy to do so at the moment.

"My soul is red," The human suddenly said.

Gaster did a double take. He had never seen her summon her soul. Her stats wouldn't show her what it looked like. How could she possibly—

"REALLY?!" 2-P asked excitedly.

"Uh huh," 3-F hummed back. "It's red, and looks like a heart,"

"Have you…" Gaster hesitated. "Seen your soul?"

The human ignored him.

"WHY IS YOUR SOUL RED? OUR SOUL'S ARE WHITE,"

"I don't know," She replied, before turning to Gaster. "Is it because of DETERMINATION?"

"what's determination?" 1-S pipped in.

All three of them looked at Gaster expectantly. He decided to give them the short answer. It would satisfy their curiosity and keep them from learning too much.

"It's what makes Subject 3 a Human," He said.

That was enough for 2-P, though 1-S seemed suspicious. 3-F just smiled as if she knew more than he did. Gaster didn't like that.

2-P jumped to the next question. "WHY DOES MINE LOOK BIGGER?"

"Your body is bigger, so your SOUL is bigger to sustain you. Your SOULs are unique, but the basic principles should still hold,"

"UNIQUE?"

"does that mean your soul is different than ours?" 1-S chimed in.

"Outwardly, they appear much the same, but they are different, yes,"

"can we see?" 1-S begged.

"YEAH! CAN WE SEE? CAN WE SEE?" 2-P chanted excitedly.

Gaster sighed. Maybe it was because he was tired. Maybe it was because of the warm heart attack he felt when placing a clean gown onto 1-S. Maybe he wanted to show the human, who seemed to know something he didn't, something she couldn't possibly have seen. But he pulled his shirt back, and showed the three of them his souls.

Both the skeletons eyes widened in fascination. And the look on the humans face told Gaster he was correct in assuming she had never seen such a thing before.

"woah!"

"WOW, IT DOES LOOK LIKE OURS, BUT…"

The human finished the sentence. "your heart's so big,"

There it was again. The warm heart attack. And the human had caused it. He hated it when the human caused it. She was a homunculus created to mimic a creature he despised; a tool to free monsters from their prisons, a thing that could be used as a weapon against her own kind. He hated it when she said kind things, smiled warmly, made him feel _proud _of her. He wasn't supposed to form an attachment to any of them. Least of all her.

He stood up, and walked off. "…That's enough talk about SOULs"

"BUT-"

"No more questions,"

They kept getting a hold of his things. 2-P was absolutely fascinated with his lab coat. The human would grab anything that didn't taste disgusting if she put it in her mouth and keep it. She nearly choked on one of the smaller things she placed in there. And despite the scary experience, she still put small things in her mouth, she just made sure not to swallow them.

At least her siblings would always snap at her and demand she spit it out when she did so.

One day, 1-S got ahold of his Rubix cube. He even swatted Gaster's hand and demanded "no touching" when Gaster had attempted to take it back.

Gaster had to resist the urge to throw his desk at the dumb kid.

Another time they had gotten a hold of his screwdriver, which lead to a rather awkward moment for Gaster.

"Oh, there it is. I'll be taking that back, thank you! I take my eye off you three for two seconds…"

"WHAT'S 'THANK YOU'?" 2-P asked.

"Hmm?" The scientist took a second to register the question. "Oh, it's one of those things people say to be polite," He let out a fake cough to hide his next comment. "Or sarcastic,"

The three subjects looked at him curiously, urging him to continue.

"Thank you, please, excuse me, you're welcome, sorry,"

"PLEASE? EXCUSE ME?"

"what do those mean?"

Gaster let out a sigh. "Excuse me is for when you've inconvenienced someone, you use please when you're asking for something, thank you expresses gratitude towards someone, you're welcome is what you say when someone thanks you, sorry is for when you do something wrong,"

"so, if you want something, you use please to ask for it?" 1-S concluded.

"OH! OH!" 2-P suddenly pipped up, excited, as if the greatest idea in the world had just occurred to him. "THEN… CAN I HAVE A HUG, PLEASE?"

He looked so bright, happy, and desperate. Gaster almost hesitated. "No,"

2-P started to cry, much to Gaster's annoyance. Why was the boy so goddamn needy? 1-S didn't need to be _constantly_ touched. Not even the human proved to be this obnoxious.

"can… we have a hug please?" 1-S asked hesitantly. The human smiled at her taller sibling, her eyes practically begging for the same thing.

"OF COURSE YOU CAN!" 2-P sobbed loudly, grabbing the two of them with desperation and strength, practically squishing his two siblings.

Gaster rolled his eyes, and left them like that, cursing under his breath.

Subject 1 was developing an attitude. Gaster was slightly amused by this, but mostly annoyed. The small skeleton made a habit of slurring words together. So Gaster thought teaching him about contractions would help improve his speech patterns.

He might have made a mistake.

"Now, contractions are abbreviated combinations of two words. _Don't_ for _do not_, or _can't _for _can not, _or _should've, _NOT _shoulda,_ for _should have_,"

"why not shoulda?" 1-S asked curiously.

"_Shoulda_ is sloppy and improper. _Woulda_ would also be incorrect, and so would similar variants such as _gonna_ or _dunno_,"

"how else can you not talk proper?"

Gaster made the mistake of thinking 1-S wanted to learn which words _not_ to use. He should've suspected that the damn kid just wanted to ruin his vocabulary.

"Properly, and let's see… You can use incorrect contractions, such as _ain't, _you can drop syllables or the last letter of words, such as _goin_ or _doin._ You can slur words together, and/or mispronounce them, like—"

Gaster stopped when he noticed the small skeleton looking at him with stars in his eyes.

"I walked right into that one," Gaster moaned. "Why do I keep doing this to myself?"

"i dunno what you talkin' about,"

The three subjects once caught Gaster smoking in front of them.

"WHAT'S THAT? IS IT ON FIRE?"

"Smell's weird,"

"is that smoke? why—"

"It's MY business if I want to smoke or not! It's not even bad for monsters i have DONE THE SCIENCE! It's perfectly fine, and it calms me down, and I can make my OWN decisions about it, thank you!"

He then stomped off, leaving the three subjects very confused.

"There you are!" Asgore cried. Gaster had showed up late to the meeting he was supposed to have with him and Alphyse. "I was getting worried!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just got distracted," Gaster sighed. "What's on the schedule"

"Wait a minute" Asgore suddenly said, nose scrunched up, and disappointment on his face. "What's that smell? Gaster, you aren't smoking again, are you!?"

"N— no?" He tried to deny.

It didn't work.

Gaster sat at one of the desk while the subjects played on the floor. He was surprised to see the human come up to him.

"Smoke stick?" She questioned.

Gaster's face twisted into a snarl. "Like I said, I'm an adult, and I can—"

"Can I try?"

Gaster looked at her, his eyebrows practically flying past the top of his forehead. The surprise wore off when he remembered that this was the _human_ he was talking to. Of _course_ she would want to try a cigarette, it's something new.

Well, it wouldn't harm her if he didn't light it.

3-F looked at the thing. Touched it, smelled it, shook it a bit to see if there was any sound coming from it. Then, as always, she put it in her mouth.

"No smoke?" She questioned.

Gaster just sighed, took the cigarette back, and placed it in the ash tray, feeling annoyed that he wasted one of them by letting the girl chew on it.

_Entry Number (%^) *(&_

_They smile when I come to see them. They ask me what I do outside. They ask me if they can go outside. _

_Entry number #%^(* )#%)&(_

_Subject 2 tried to hold my hand_

He was becoming attached to them. He couldn't deny it any longer. He wasn't sure why. Didn't even want to know why. But those bright smiles… They where clever and good. And every time he touched them, or they touched him, he felt an odd energy, drawing him closer to them.

Even the damn human somehow wormed her way into his heart.

Asgore would've called it "parental instinct".

Gaster couldn't have that. That was Asgore's thing. That was the reason Asgore would cry every time he had to hurt something. It was why Gaster took on this mission. Why he created the three Subjects in the first place.

They where things. Tools to be used. He couldn't get attached to tools.

But when the three of them all winked; one eye closed, one eye open, like Gaster did, he suddenly realized what was going on.

"NOW I LOOK LIKE YOU!"

"i figured it out first!"

"Good, right?"

Gaster shuttered, visibly. It was like that time 1-S accidentally said "dada". They where mimicking him; looking up to him. _They wanted to be like him_. Like children…

His children.

The two skeletons. His sons. The human. His daughter.

He just considered the damn human to be his daughter!

This wasn't supposed to happen! He wasn't supposed to become attached. Not to the skeletons. Especially not to the human.

But 1-S was so sharp. Interested in science, like he was. A fast learner, like he was. So much of this little boy reminded Gaster of himself. The boy had inherited so many traits from Gaster. As if the scientist really was his father.

And 2-P was always trying his best. He struggled, and fooled around, but he was always ready to try. Always ready to support. To do his best at anything. Who did all he could to re-ignite the happiness in Gaster's long dead heart.

Then there was the human, asking Gaster if her mimicking was good. The tough and curious little girl. Who wanted to see everything; do everything; touch everything; taste everything; smell everything; experience everything. Independent and mysterious, with an aura of comfort and kindness. And an undying spirit that Gaster couldn't help but admire.

He had grown attached to them. Less than a year in, and he had grown attached to them. How was he supposed to keep this up? He was supposed to wait three years after their conception to move on to proper testing. That would be enough time for him to test them without the risk of damaging their souls.

His own emotions where jeopardizing his mission. That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it happen!

_Entry Number *#&^( $!%^* #%_

_I've made a huge mistake. _


End file.
